Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 9

BACK-2-BASICS with radio remote control, and self- contained and compact enough to fit onto even small capacity ladles. The feedback from this unit was invaluable and allowed us to the next design stage. Key points raised by the operators: • How the controls functioned; a simple open and close action was thought by many foundries not to give sufficient control to the pouring. • The need for being able to manually open and close the bottom pouring unit as well as operate it via the RRC. • The ease of changing batteries, and knowing what the charge level needed to be. Re-chargeable battery technology has made incredible advances in recent years and we were convinced that this was the way to go but, at the same time, we were very keen to hear what foundry men thought of this idea. Many items of equipment, such as radio remote control handsets, and hand tools are powered by re-chargeable batteries. So we thought that the Safe-pour unit was simply taking it to another stage rather than breaking completely new ground. The feedback regarding the battery operation was generally positive and the advantage of not requiring an external power supply to the safe-pour unit was fully appreciated. However a commonly asked question being “how long would the battery last before needing recharging,” was one that, at that time we couldn’t fully answer. Sourcing a battery pack that we considered to be suitable for the application took longer than anticipated, but once chosen allowed us to move the design to the next stage. The battery pack used on the Safe-pour system is a re-chargeable LiFePO4 battery pack that is just a 1/3 of the weight of a standard sealed lead acid battery of the same Ah rating. The battery pack is certificated and complies with the relevant UN 38.1 standard. (This is critical if you are going to ship the unit overseas.) The battery pack also incorporates internal safety features, a quick release Tee connection, and a 5 bar charge level indicator. The radio remote control system used is an industrial unit, the same as we use on other motor drive ladles. These RRC systems have no problem either operating in the foundry environment or alongside other RRC equipment. The RRC handset incorporates several useful features such as indicating when it has a link with the RRC receiver unit. The handset also has a charge level indicator to show the handset battery level. By 201 7, the battery powered Safe-pour unit, having gone through a number of changes and refinements, was ready to be beta tested in a local foundr y. Weir Minerals (UK) was selected for this testing due to their location and our long term relationship with them. We are also aware that they follow the “zero harm” ethos with regard to safety and felt that the Safe-pour unit could support them in this goal. The Safe-pour unit was trialled at Weir Minerals in early June 201 7. Initially it was intended that the ladle would be just used for trials, however after a couple of pouring trials Weir made the decision to move the ladle, with the Safe-pour unit, into production. Continued on page 12 11